Chain Reaction

Chapter 20 - Allies

Ben

They had returned back to their base ship, the Veneration, after he had realized that the remainder of the Resistance had escaped and that Luke had been stalling him. Ben was seated on the floor beside his bed in his room, one knee bent while his other leg extended.

He took Cailin's old lightsaber from his belt and activated it, its white light shining in his dark room. He meant to return this to her, but thought against it after she deliberately usurped him. He was not angry at her for it, rather he was worried for her now, he shuddered as he painfully started to admit that maybe Ben Solo was back. Who was he kidding, Kylo Ren had died the moment Cailin stepped up to claim the throne, but he did not want anyone else to know, most of all, Cailin.

Snoke's words echoed in his mind.

"Darkness arises, and light to meet it."

The old man had been wrong about Skywalker being the light, for it was Rey and not Luke. Maybe he had also been wrong with him being the dark, maybe it meant it was Cailin that was arising.

He pursed his lips and deactivated the lightsaber, he placed it carefully on the floor beside him, and he ran both of his hands through his hair. He cursed himself for being too weak, and thought what would have happened if he had chosen to kill Rey instead of Snoke. Maybe, the situation would have reversed, although he did notice Cailin had a soft spot for Rey, there was a chance that if the event had happened that he killed Rey, Cailin would probably turn to the light and he would descend deeper into darkness, and usurp Snoke in another time.

It would always be light against dark, the question was who would hold the torch from each the side.

He sensed a presence outside his room and looked up to find the general entering, the door closed behind him. Hux was wearing his regular First Order uniform, minus the jacket. He rocked backwards on his heels at first, readying himself for the interaction he was about to be in, he honestly did not know what to expect from Kylo Ren.

Ben raised an eyebrow as the man slowly walked towards him and stopped in front.

"I came to talk to you, Ren."

Ben scoffed.

"It's... it's about..." Hux was nervous.

Ben stared as the man struggled to find words, he subtly probed the general's mind and saw his intentions. He wanted to talk about Paige.

"Why?" Ben said, and Hux realized his mind had been probed.

"I find it annoying when you do that." The general sneered.

Ben raised an eyebrow, but maintained his cool, he left Hux's mind now, to give him the chance to explain things himself.

"We both know this isn't her." Hux said in a low voice.

"Oh, it's her." Ben scoffed, if Hux chose not to believe that even she was capable of turning to the dark side then he was fooling himself.

"It's always been her." He added in a low voice, he picked up her old lightsaber from the floor and began to twirl it in his hands.

"Ren, it pains me to say this, but we might need to work together."

"I thought you wanted the galaxy to be ruled, so that all the remaining systems will bow to the First Order?" Ben challenged, it took everything in him not to laugh as he quoted the last  line from the general's speech.

Hux visibly cringed, but regained his composure, the general then descended to the floor, crossing one leg over his other one, he sat in front of Ben, and both males stared into each other's eyes.